The BMW Group, which comprises the BMW brand, MINI, Rolls-Royce, and the BMW motorcycles segment, reported on Thursday that the company has delivered 1,213,276 vehicles across all brands in the first half of 2024, marking a 0.2 per cent decrease from the same period last year. This comes amid declining profit margins and deliveries in the second quarter of 2024, which saw the group observing a 1.3 per cent decline in total Q2 deliveries.

While the group faced an overall sales slump in the second quarter, the BMW brand itself posted a 2.2 per cent increase in deliveries. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were attributed as the driving factor behind the first half-year sales of the BMW Group with deliveries climbing by 34 per cent. This comes in spite of increased competition and weaker demand in the Chinese market, where the BMW brand observed a sales decline of four per cent in H1 2024.

BMW and other carmakers alike face consistent pressure from their Chinese counterparts who continue to gain market share with their lower-cost EVs. This has germinated a price war in the EV sector, where western carmakers are being forced to slash prices in order to keep up with the local rivals. These carmakers are further forced to drive up their EV deliveries ahead of regulatory deadlines from the likes of China, European Union, and the United States. These regulations are expected to restrict, or outright ban, the sales of new vehicles that run on fossil fuels.

The Munich-based carmaker is, however, expecting their electric vehicles catalogue to be their primary driving force behind sales and revenue growth. Aside from the aforementioned 34 per cent increase in BMW-only EV deliveries, the overall group reported a 24.6 per cent increase in BEV deliveries in H1 2024 to 1,90,614 cars and expects a stable third quarter for the Chinese market.

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